Tottenham Hotspur v Sunderland preview

Tim Sherwood says that he hopes former Spurs teammate Gus Poyet keeps Sunderland up, but only after Spurs face the Black Cats on Monday evening.

Fresh from a 4-0 humbling at Liverpool last weekend, Spurs will be keen to exact revenge on the lowly Wearsiders, who sit second bottom of the Premier League.

"I hope Sunderland stay up for Gus’s sake, but I don’t want them to start winning on Monday,” Sherwood told the club’s official website.

“It’s important we bounce back.

"Sunderland have been unlucky, they haven’t picked up results. We’ll go out and play with freedom and try to entertain the fans."

Spurs made a strong start to life under Sherwood and were unbeaten in their first six league games under his stewardship.

Tottenham’s recent form has not been as impressive, with just two wins secured from their last six Premier League outings.

Eight points behind rivals Arsenal in the final Champions League place and four behind fifth-place Everton, Sherwood will be acutely aware that Monday is the perfect opportunity to get back in the race for fourth.

"It’s been a difficult week. We’re all upset after Liverpool. We have to put it right and the way to do that is by winning on Monday.

"We’ve six games remaining and they are all cup finals. It’s important for pride and for the fans,” admitted Sherwood.

Sunderland have not win in their last six in the league, keeping just one clean sheet in that run.

Time is running out for Gus Poyet’s side to beat the drop and former Sunderland loanee Danny Rose is another hoping that the Wearsiders can retain their top-flight status.

“I loved my time up there, Martin O’Neill was a great manager for me and he gave me a lot of confidence to go and express myself on the pitch. He was willing to give me games and I have a lot to thank him, the club and the Sunderland fans for,” Rose told the Spurs official site.

“I hope they stay up, there isn’t a much bigger prize to fight for than Premier League survival and that’s the position they find themselves in.”

There’s good news for Spurs on the injury front, with Emmanuel Adebayor and Vlad Chiriches both fit to feature after returning to training this week.

Jan Vertonghen (ankle) and Roberto Soldado (hamstring) were both injured in the defeat at Anfield and join Kyle Walker (pelvis) and Erik Lamela (back) in being unavailable for selection.